Author's note:

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The sun had risen and with it had taken most of my anger, leaving me with a splitting headache and swollen eyes. Not to mention a void, sucking me into a bottomless pit of depression.

It took me all my will power to get out of bed. I couldn't let my aunt know that the last night's episode had affected me so much as to cut ties from the whole world.

I dragged myself to the bathroom and took a quick shower to clear my head. I got ready, taking my time, although I was running late. Leslie, Lesley, Ian and Caroline must be getting impatient, waiting for breakfast.

Come to think of it. Why didn't Ian come up to get me? Maybe the twins made some cereal. Though it was highly unlikely that they could find the cereal boxes. I had started hiding them after Ian had eaten a box full of dry cereal, a few weeks ago.

I brushed my hair, and decided to put on some makeup to cover up the traces of the worst night of my life. I couldn't do anything to conceal the redness of my eyes, but I could say it was an infection if Harvey or Jamie got too curious. After the makeup, I decidedly looked better. Nobody could guess that I was feeling horrible on the inside.

A thought crossed my mind, 'except Harvey.'

'Maybe you shouldn't go to school today,' my logical side thought.

'What about your aunt, then?' my other side reasoned.

'I will escape both,' I decided. 'I'll get out of the house and skip school. Perfect!'

I picked up my backpack, hoping nobody sees me sneaking out. I tiptoed down the stairs and was about to turn towards the front door when Caroline's eyes fell on me.

"Mary's here," she said cheerfully.

I had no choice but to go into the kitchen.

"Who made the cereal?" I asked, entering.

"I did," I heard my aunt's voice.

I whipped to my side and saw her holding a cup of coffee, leaning against the kitchen counter. Her eyes were a bit red, but she was as composed as always. I gave her a scathing look and turned to leave.

"I thought you'd stay home today. You don't have to go, Mary. I can call your principal to inform him that you are sick," she said.

"I am not sick," I gritted my teeth.

"I don't think..." she started.

I turned around and looked her in the eye, "I'm perfectly fine."

She stared at me for a whole minute before sighing and lowering her eyes, "I hope so."

I glared at her and before she could say something else, I turned away. Margaret was standing in the doorway, blocking my path.

"Excuse me," I said coldly.

"Come," she said and grabbed my hand, leading me out of the house.

"What the hell?" I yelled, trying to get my hand out of her tight grip.

Was she kicking me out of the house because of some absurd reason?

"This is my father's house too," I yelled.

She let go of my hand and gave me a hard look.

"So this is all about money, huh? You don't love dad. You want his property," she said quietly.

"What?" I was baffled.

"You will have your share. After all, you are our sister," she said and turned away.

"Who said anything about property?" I asked.

"You just said 'this is my father's house too'. Don't tell me your forgot so quickly," she said.

"Oh! I meant... you were taking me out," I said.

She raised her eyebrows.

"Why were you taking me out?" I asked.

"We go to the same school. I thought it was getting late so you could come with me, in the car, instead of walking as you usually do," she explained.

"Oh! I thought... Nothing! Let's just go," I said, flustered.

"Oh God!" she exclaimed. "You didn't think I was kicking you out of the house, did you?"

"I... no, of course not. I just... We are getting late for school," I said, embarrassed.

A small smile appeared on her lips. She adjusted her backpack and got into the back seat of the car. I followed.

Darn! I didn't even want to go to school and I didn't want to go with her. Now I had no choice, after what I had blathered. Now I'll have to sneak out of the school gates when no one's looking.

Margaret poked Simon, who was sitting on the driver's seat, with his nose in a book. He turned towards Margaret.

"What?" he asked.

"Let's go. To school," she added.

"Oh! Yes, yes," he said, realising he was sitting in the car.

I turned my head towards the window on my side, looking at the cars swishing past us. I held in my tears which were struggling for freedom, again.

'Just a few more minutes, Mary. Then you can cry freely,' I consoled myself.

After a few minutes, I saw the dull building of the school draw nearer. Simon parked the car in his usual spot and we got out.

"You look different," he said to me.

My hand went up to my face. Was I crying unknowingly? Was my makeup too dark?

"Uh, how?" I asked.

"You don't even sound like Lily. You are reminding me of someone I know. A girl. Very genius," he said dreamily. "I once told you about her, Marg."

Before I could say anything, Margaret pointed at me, "she's not Lily. She is the girl you are talking about."

"Don't be silly, I'm talking about Mary, our cousin. I can't believe you forgot," he said, looking annoyed, and turned to go.

Margaret shook her head and followed him to the school's entrance. I couldn't help smiling at his forgetfulness. Also, he had called me a genius.

I was just about to sneak away, when a car came to a halt beside me. Jamie jumped out and engulfed me into a hug.

"Morning, Mary," he greeted me cheerfully.

I groaned. Now they will never let me go. And I couldn't possibly tell them what happened.

Harvey parked his car before joining us. His sister, Skylar, ignored us and went directly towards the school gates.

"Hey, Mary," Harvey said, beaming. "Lovely day. Isn't it?"

'Very,' I said sarcastically.

"What's up with you?" he raised his eyebrows.

I shrugged.

"Your eyes are red," he said.

"Allergy," I said, rubbing my eyes.

"Oh," he said, nodding his head.

"Ew, ew, ew," Jamie said, backing away, holding his hands in front of his face.

"Not contagious," I snapped.

"Okay then," he stepped forward, giving a toothy smile.

"No, actually it is contagious. I'd better keep away from you," I said, backing away.

"Nice try," smirked Harvey. "But it takes more than a fake allergy to keep us away."

"What's your problem?" I snapped.

"I'll tell you if you tell your's," he said, raising his eyebrows.

"I don't have one," I said.

"Well, we can't let your problem that doesn't exist ruin an amazing day like this. Let's go," he said, grabbing my hand and pulling me with him.

"Uh, the school's that way," I said, pointing to the doors.

"Who said we were going to school?" he smirked.

Good! At least I didn't have to face any other students.

"Where are we going?" I asked, relaxing a bit.

"Picnic breakfast at the beach," said Jamie. "Hope you are hungry."

~~~

"Come on, come on, come on," Jamie chanted, getting out of the car and jumping up and down.

I scowled at his enthusiasm. I hate it when someone's cheerful while I'm not. He ignored my fowl mood and pulled me out of the car. I didn't resist. Scratch that, I couldn't resist. All my enrgy was drained in either crying or holding my tears in.

Harvey placed the picnic mat a little distance from the sea. The light breeze through my hair calmed me down a bit.

"Let's eat," said Harvey, flopping down on the mat.

"And tell jokes," said Jamie. "I've a very good one in mind."

"Shoot," said Harvey, taking out the picnic food from the hamper and placing it on the mat.

"Dedicated to Mary," said Jamie, winking. "A horse walked into a bar. The bartender looked up and asked, 'hey, why the long face?'"

Harvey and Jamie burst into laughter and I glared at them.

"Oh, come on! It was dedicated to you. The least you could do was smile," said Jamie, poking me in my side.

"Why are we here?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" asked Jamie nervously.

"What do you know?" I growled.

"Know what?" asked Harvey feigning innocence.

"Who told you? Margaret? Skylar?" I asked.

"Uh, no," said Jamie, now looking confused.

"What are you talking about?" asked Harvey.

"You know what I'm talking about," I said angrily. "I don't need cheering up. Okay?"

"We aren't here to cheer you up. We had this planned since day before yesterday. We don't know what happened to you yesterday. You made a sudden trip to hell or somewhere just before going to the ice cream parlour," said Harvey.

"Oh, I thought..." I trailed off.

"What?" asked Jamie.

"Nothing. Tell me why did you plan this?" I asked.

"No reason actually," said Jamie.

"There has to be some reason," I insisted.

"We love you. Isn't that reason enough," Jamie winked.

Harvey batted his eyelashes.

"I want to know or I'm leaving," I said, standing up.

"No," Harvey quickly pulled me down.

"We just wanted to skip school today and..." Jamie hesitated and glanced at Harvey.

"What is it?" I asked, narrowing my swollen eyes at them.

"It was Harvey's idea," said Jamie, pointing at him.

"What?" I asked impatiently.

"I thought it would be fun to push you into the water," he smirked.

"I hate you," I said.

"Oh the feeling's mutual," he smirked piling up his plate with sandwiches.

Jamie started with the french fries. He dipped them into the ketchup and popped them into his mouth one after the other.

I just sat and watched them wolf down the food.

"Aren't you eating, Mary?" asked Jamie.

"I'm not hungry," I said.

"Like you weren't hungry at my eighth birthday party and ended up eating half of the entire cake," said Harvey.

I scowled at him.

"And remember the time when you ate up my lunch as well as yours," he said. "Out of spite, may I add."

"And remember the time when you ate up a whole large pizza all by yourself at the party," Jamie joined in enthusiastically.

I rolled my eyes.

"The only party we've met at was at Harvey's house," I said. "And there were no pizzas."

"Just start eating something and you'll realise that you are in fact very hungry," said Harvey.

"No," I said stubbornly.

"Fine then. I won't let you eat these chocolate éclairs either," he threatened, lifting the lid of the hamper and the box inside, and letting me look at the heavenly pastries.

"What filling?" I asked in awe, unable to take my eyes off of them.

"You won't find out if you won't eat," he smirked, closing the lid.

I quickly grabbed a sandwich and took a bite. I hadn't eaten anything since the blueberry sundae and the sandwich was so delicious I couldn't stop myself from picking up another.

"I am not hungry," said Jamie in a high pitched voice, trying to mimic me.

Harvey laughed.

"How could I know these sandwiches were so great," I said, swallowing.

I have to admit Harvey was right. Once I started eating, I realised that I was starving.

"What's this?" I asked, picking up a tringular pastry kind of thing.

"It's called a samosa," said Jamie.

"It's oily," I said. "But good."

"I know right," said Jamie, dipping a samosa into the ketchup.

"I'm full," I said, wiping the food crumbs off my face.

"Of course you are full," said Harvey. "You ate up all the chicken rolls."

What else could I do? I love chicken rolls.

"I did not," I denied and slapped him playfully on his arm.

Having a full stomach made me less cranky and my mood lightened a bit. I laid down on the picnic mat and decided to enjoy my unexpected visit to the beach. I love beaches and it's light breeze. And I love digging my toes into the cool sand.

"As Mary has fallen asleep, I guess I can eat her éclairs," said Harvey teasingly.

"No," I got up at once. "Give me my éclairs."

"Chillax," laughed Jamie. "We choose life over éclairs."

I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not that vicious," I said.

"Here you go," Harvey said, handing me two éclairs.

"Only two?" I asked. "There were six in the box."

"All of them aren't for you. We're here too," Harvey scowled, handing one to Jamie.

"Oh yeah. I forgot," I said.

"You forgot the very people who brought them," said Jamie, biting into his éclair.

"Éclairs make me forget everything," I said, staring at the whipped cream on the left corner of Jamie's lips.

"Are you going to eat them or not?" asked Harvey, pointing to the éclairs I was holding in my hands.

"My stomach is full now and I want to savour the taste when I eat them. So I'll eat them after a while," I explained.

"Then keep them back," said Harvey, pushing the hamper towards me.

I held them closer to my chest.

"No," I said.

"She has officially gone mad," said Jamie.

"I have not," I denied, shaking my head.

My mouth was watering as I saw Jamie biting into his éclair. The whipped cream was now smeared across his lower lip.

"Mary, I can see you are practically drooling over my mouth," he winked. "Wanna taste?"

Without waiting for my response, he puckered up his lips and leaned forward.

I found myself leaning forward as if in a trance.

Author's note:

Comment! Comment! Comment!

My mouth was watering too while writing about the éclairs. Good thing it isn't Ramadan yet :D

Two questions...

Why do you think they planned this picnic?

What do you think is gonna happen next? Any ideas?

Please please pleaseeeee vote and comment. Especially comment. Pretty please. With a cherry on top.

See ya!